


I'm not a brat

by NoMansWindow2846



Series: Regression fics [2]
Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Carer!Arin, Fluff, Gen, Mental Regression, Sass, just so much sass, just super fluffy, little!Dan, platonic egobang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-20
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-18 18:42:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9398006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoMansWindow2846/pseuds/NoMansWindow2846
Summary: Dan regresses and is a sassy /little/ shit to Arin.





	

It was a normal Tuesday for the whole Grump gang. Everyone was enjoying the calm of the day and chatted with each other every now and again. Arin stood, stretching, before searching for his co-host in the normal organized chaos that was the Game Grumps office. Turning to Ross, eyes still focused on the open space, he asked, “Have you seen Dan recently?” Ross shrugged, focused on the drawing in front of him. Arin looked over his shoulder at Suzy, who was happily clacking away at her keyboard. She glanced up at him, shaking her head when she realized what Arin was going to ask. Sighing, Arin did the only thing he could think of, shout. Yelling at the top of his lungs, startling all of the Grumps within the office, Arin screamed, “Dan! Where are you?! Has anyone seen Dan?!”

A ripple of no’s and nun uh’s sounded back to Arin. He mumbled a thanks to the group before padding away to search the rest of the office. Poking his nose in every place he could think of, he headed back to his desk. As he passed the recording office, his eyes caught the poof of hair that could only be Dan’s. Following his instincts, Arin opened the door to the recording studio. Dan sat on the floor surrounded by game cases stacked like a house. Arin blinked, unable to fully process what he was seeing. Suddenly his mouth worked again and the first thing out was “Dan, didn’t you hear me calling?”

Startled by the sudden voice of Arin, Dan jumped, knocking over his house in the process. He looked up at the younger man, clearly fuming. Turning back quickly, Dan let out a huff and some mutter akin to “Don’t scare me like that.” He went back to the cases, stacking them again. Arin stood in the doorway, watching his co-host play with game cases like Legos. Dan looked over his shoulder, glaring when his eyes caught Arin’s.

Arin threw up his hands, “You didn’t answer me. How was I supposed to know that you were in here playing with the game cases like Legos?” Dan turned away, a frown clearing forming on his face. Arin went and sat down next to him, “Look. I know I ruined your house or whatever, but you can’t stay mad at me forever. Now come on, we got a show to do.” Shuffling away, Dan pulled in on himself, making it clear to Arin that not only was the older man furious with him, but that Dan wanted to be left alone at this point in time. Arin sighed, climbing to his feet. He scratched his head before leaving, calling out at the doorway, “Do you want a snack?” Dan stiffened before loosening his neck with a nod. Arin laughed, “You got it, buddy.”

Arin padded back to the actual office area, a pep in his step. Everyone seemed to freeze, unaware if a murder had just occurred or if Arin was genuinely happy that Dan seemed to have shut him out as Dan was not with him. Arin smiled, a real genuine smile, and everyone collectively let out a sigh. Arin laughed, grabbing a box of some snack food he didn’t much care for, but that Dan loved. Arin paused, all eyes on him. He turned to the group of ogling spectators, “He’s fine. He’s just in the recording studio.” With that reassurance, everyone turned back to their work and Arin continued back to the office.

When the door to the office opened again, Dan looked up to see Arin holding a box of pure deliciousness. Momentarily forgetting his town, Dan hopped and grabbed the box. Without any sort of exchange, Arin flopped down on the couch and Dan returned to the floor. Dan hummed something that sounded like an 80’s cartoon intro as he built more of his city, glancing at Arin every few minutes, who was absorbed into his phone. Before long, Dan caught Arin’s eye before playfully sticking out his tongue.

Arin laughed, “Man, what is up with you today?” Dan blinked, trying to process the words. Continuing before Dan could reply, Arin smiled, “Like first you’re playing Legos, then you act like a brat, and now you’re humming the Transforms theme?”

Dan puffed out his chest, “Yes I am. Is that a problem? Do you want me to hum something else?” Arin simply gaped like a fish, taken aback by Dan’s quick and snarky reply. “No? Okay. Then I’m just gonna keep humming it.” Dan paused, trying to come up with the right word. “And I’m little, if you must now,” he snorted, puffing his chest out even further. “Also, rethink your question. It should be right there.” Dan hunched back over as he turned back to his ever growing city.

Arin took pause, going over what he said. Something clicked and guilt washed over him. ‘How could have I been so oblivious? Of course he’s little’, “But that doesn’t mean you get to act like a brat. Being little is just like being a kid and kids don’t get to act bratty. What the hell is your problem?” Dan flinched at the words, but refused to answer. Arin sighed, getting to his feet, “You know what? I don’t care. Come find me when you can act civil. I’m done with you right now.”

Dan watched Arin leave and slam the door shut. He sighed as tears formed in the corner of his eyes. He quickly wiped them, then pushed over the city, one house at a time. Climbing to his feet, Dan dusted himself off before collecting as many of the cases as his hands would allow, which was nearly half of them. Humming the alphabet song, Dan placed the cases back into their spot on the alphabetized shelves. He returned to the ruin city, staring at the devastation he had caused in only a matter of seconds. He sighed once more, collecting half the remaining cases. He continued to shelve until the last one was in his hand. Dan glanced at the cover before slipping it into its final resting place.

Dan glanced at the clock, half an hour had passed since Arin stormed out of there. He wondered what Arin had done in the meanwhile to cool off, probably talk with someone or draw, maybe even scream into a pillow. Dan shook his head, ‘why am I worried about what he’s doing?’ Turning his attention back to the room, everything was pretty and organized, minus Dan’s snack and a couple of disorganized games they were playing at the current time.

Arin paced back and forth in the open area of the office. He turned to the voice calling his name. Whatever they were saying went right over Arin’s head, nothing processing. Stopping the person seemed to be grateful and walked off. Arin walked to the bathroom, locking the door behind him. He looked in the mirror, his eyes were just a touch puffy and his face was a light pink. If he had to guess, it looked like he had just finished crying or was on the verge. The latter was true, he was rarely angry at Dan or any of the Grumps for that matter. When he was, he always made up within an hour, but it felt like four hour had passed. He fished around in his pants pocket before pulling it out and checking the time. Only about half hour had passed. He breathed a sigh, tears begging to fall. Instead of letting them, Arin wiped his face, sniffled and puffed out his chest. He was going to make it up to Dan, even if he was being a stupid brat.

Arin checked his face once more, it looked the same. Flinging the door, Dan quickly pedaled away from the door. Arin opened his mouth, only a squeak came out. Dan perked up, stifling a laugh that clearly couldn’t be contained. Seeing Dan laughing at Arin, he loosened up, laughing along, even at his own expense. Soon the hallway filled with the laughter of the two men and all tension that had built had melted away.

Arin gasped for breath before calming down enough to sputter out sentences, “Ready… ready to rec-record?” Dan nodded and the two of them laughed all the way to the recording, pausing only to laugh hard at the confused office, who brushed it away once they left. As they entered the space, Dan grabbed a blanket off the ground and threw it over Arin’s shoulders, who wordlessly accepted the blanket.

Dan pulled another blanket from the pile and threw it himself before turning to Arin, “I’m still little.” Arin’s face slowly changed from carefree and laughing to horror. “I can still record. It’ll just be a little more kid-friendly on my end, okay?”

Arin smiled, setting up everything to record. Before he sat down, he picked up Dan’s box of snacks and passed it to the man. He gave the older man a smile and a nod before flipping on the recording software on. He looked back to the TV, watching Dan out of the corner of his eye, “Hey guys welcome back!” Before the episode was even half way through, Dan seemed to have turned on a dime. “Whoa, Dan, are you okay?” Arin asked, startled by the sudden shift in language.

Dan blinked at his co-host, “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I?” Dan connected the dots, “Oh! Yeah, I’m all good now. I promise I won’t be a brat anymore.” This sent both of them into laughter. Dan managed out, “Remember everybody’s faces?!” The pair laughed harder, causing Arin to die shortly after.

“Ah shit tits!” Arin screamed, realizing his mistake. “God damn it!” Arin turned to Dan, a smile playing on his face. “Why did you have to mention that?” Dan gave a shrug, a grin reflecting Arin’s. “Now we gotta tell the story about everyone thinking I was going to murder you or something.”

Dan snorted, “Or we could not and just leave it there.” Dan hoped Arin would drop it, not wanting to divulge all his regression-related secrets. But it was Arin and few things were predictable.

“C’mon, Dan. We gotta tell some story and we already kinda started this one.”

Dan really didn’t want to press Arin into conceiting, but when push comes to shove, “No, Arin. We can leave it alone. I shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.” Dan shifted his body on the couch, twisting away from the younger man. “Please drop it.”

Arin rarely saw Dan as vulnerable as he was in the moment and his first instinct was to protect him. “Okay, we won’t talk about that. You wanna hear this weird D Club story?”

Dan relaxed into the couch, “Another D Club story? How many do you have?”

Arin huffed before diving into the story, glad Dan was relaxing as time went on and it seemed that everything was going to be just fine. As long as Dan wasn’t a brat again.

**Author's Note:**

> If you couldn't tell, I based Dan off myself. I know I can snap in and out of regression and thought it would be funny for Arin to have to deal with the sudden shift in personality.  
> i got two more of these reg fics in the works. another with just dan and one with ross and dan so look for those in the near future.


End file.
